An Immortal's Love
by darkyukionna
Summary: You've heard of the Sand Siblings, Kankuro, Temari and Gaara. What if I told you that there was another Sand Sibling? Would you believe me, or tell me that I'm lying? Naruto doesn't belong to me! Also, this story is posted on Wattpad under my username, @darkyukionna
1. Konoha and Chunin Exams

**_Chapter 1: Konoha + Chunin Exams_**

**_"I have two rules: First, I'm never wrong. Second, if I'm wrong...back to the first rule." - L Lawliet_**

* * *

Sabaku no Ayano, a Genin from the Village Hidden in the Sand, was in her hotel room, laying on the bed. However, before she could even attempt to take a nap, the familiar feel of sand wrapping around her wrist and giving a little tug made her open her eyes and sigh. Then she got up and teleported to where she felt her twin's chakra signature up in a tree.

She looked down at the other kids on the ground and saw Kankuro about to take out Crow, and her eyes narrowed slightly. Gaara glanced at her for a moment before he also looked at Kankuro.

"Stop it, Kankuro."

The sound of their voices were enough to make Kankuro and Temari grow stiff with fear.

"A-Ayano!" Kankuro looked over to the tree, as did the other kids and genins present, and at Ayano, who was standing upright on the branch. Gaara was glaring at him as he stood on the underside of the same branch. "G-Gaara!"

The pink haired Leaf genin stared at Ayano with what seemed to be envy. Ayano had that body that any girl would kill to have, slender with curves in all the right places. Her straight, black, hime-cut hair reached her mid waist and had a red tinge to it, as if her black hair had just recently been dipped in blood. Her lips were a soft shade of pink. Her skin is a fair color, and her eyes were slightly slanted, giving her eyes an almost exotic look. Her eye color was an iridescent sapphire-blue color. Her Suna headband was around her neck. In other words, Ayano is the living definition of beautiful. She wore a black sports bra under a form fitting black mesh shirt, a white crop top with red accents over that with mid-thigh length black shorts. Under those shorts was fishnet leggings. She also wore red, high heeled ninja sandals.

"You're an embarrassment to our village," Ayano said as she stared at him. Then she looked at the raven haired boy with an unnoticeable look of concentration as she tried to get into his mind. Gaara and Temari both seemed to notice how confused she seemed to be when she couldn't enter the raven haired boy's mind, but was able to read it.

"Did you forget why we're here?" Gaara asked, sounding a tad annoyed.

"N-Not at all, Gaara! Y-You see, they're the ones that started it. H-here's what happened-" Kankuro began to explain, but was abruptly cut off when Ayano looked over at him again and spoke.

"Shut up..." Her eyes focused on him.

"Or we'll kill you." Gaara finished her sentence. Ayano looked to the boy on the other side of the tree they were on from the corner of her eye.

"We're sorry about that." Her tone of voice didn't sound apologetic at all. She turned into a blackish red mist while Gaara disintegrated into sand. The mist and sand floated down to the ground in front of Temari and Kankuro and the two twins reappeared in a crouching position between Kankuro and Temari.

"Let's go. We didn't come here to play around." Gaara said as he and Ayano straightened up and began walking past the other two, who turned to follow them.

"Wait!"

The four Suna nins stopped and without turning around, Temari asked, "What is it?"

The girl who had yelled for them to wait said, "Judging from your headbands, you guys are from the Suna village. The Land of Wind and the Land of Fire are allies, but traveling in between the villages is forbidden. State your purpose here and then we'll consider letting you guys go." the girl tried to sound confident, but her confidence quickly crumbled when Ayano looked over at her with a raised eyebrow.

"Konoha ninja must be living under rocks." Ayano remarked before her eyes went to the raven haired boy a tad curiously. Temari agreed, throwing an insult towards the pinkette, before showing her ID to her. Then the four Suna nin began to walk away again, only to be stopped by the raven haired boy.

"Hey, what's your names?" Temari turned, blushing as she asked if it was her he was talking about. "No. Him, the one with the gourd on his back and the girl next to him."

The two twins looked at each other before turning to look at the boy. "Sabaku no Gaara. This is my twin sister, Sabaku no Ayano." the two siblings shared a look, then Ayano spoke next.

"We're curious about you too. What's your name?"

"Uchiha, Sasuke." The three stared at each other for a few seconds, with the two boys seeing each other as rivals while Ayano obviously checked out Sasuke with an unnoticeable smirk while checking to make sure if she could really read his mind, which she could. Sasuke, who smirked slightly when he noticed her checking him out, decided to do the same to her. The pink haired genin seemed extremely jealous that an outsider had easily caught his attention. A beautiful outsider, at that. It wasn't long before a hyperactive blonde boy spoke.

"Hey, hey! I bet you're just dying to know my name!"

Ayano's eyes slid over to him and her upper lip curled a little. "Not interested." She turned around then, with her siblings, and begun walking away. A few seconds later, the four siblings ninja-jumped away, towards their hotel.

* * *

That night, Ayano and Gaara were on the roof of the hotel. She was looking at her hand, which was beginning to desiccate. She hadn't fed in a while and it was starting to show. A kunoichi appeared in front of them and threw someone at her.

"The Hokage told the jounins about your blood lust. He says that you have to feed every full moon." Ayano looked from the male shinobi at her feet to the kunoichi. "He has given you permission to feed on the night of a full moon and whenever the exam proctors allow it tomorrow." With that, the kunoichi disappeared.

Ayano's attention was locked onto the male shinobi in front of her before she looked up at the sky and at the moon. "It's a full moon, huh. So that's why my blood lust is so high."

"I hope you plan on sharing with Shukaku, sister." Gaara said as he looked at her. Ayano looked at him and smiled, her sharpened canines glinting in the moonlight.

"Of course." She said as she looked at the unnamed male shinobi once more before walking forward and harshly tore into his neck after taking control of his mind to keep him quiet. After a bit, she pulled away and let Gaara finish off the man.

After a few minutes, Gaara spoke. "Do you like the Uchiha?" he asked as he looked at her. Ayano looked at him and tilted her head.

"What do you mean, nii-san?" She asked, sounding confused.

Gaara went silent for a minute, then said, "You were staring at him earlier today." Ayano went silent, then her lips pulled up into a smirk as she put a hand on her curse mark on her neck. Gaara hadn't gotten angry when he first saw it three years ago, since she had told him that she had wanted the curse mark, as it gave her more power. She had activated her Second Stage a few months before, with the help of the Sound Four, of course.

"He intrigues me. I couldn't enter his mind, but I could read his thoughts. From the notes I read about my...you know...if I could read someone's thoughts but can't enter their mind to control them or access their memories, they are my supposed mate. The other Uchiha that I met...I couldn't read his mind at all, nor could I control him. So I suppose that Sasuke is the one meant for me. The look in his eyes is just like ours, Gaara. He was itching to fight one of us." She looked at him. "I _want _him, brother. And anyone who gets in my way of getting what I want...will end up dead." Gaara soon smirked as well as she continued, "_Nothing_ will get in my way of being with the Uchiha and _nothing_ will stop me from turning him into an Immortal like me. After all..."

"You always get what you want." Gaara said as he looked up at the moon.

"Exactly. Nothing and no one is getting in my way of getting what I want. If they do..._zenbu koroshite ageru_."  
**_[Translation: I'll kill them all.]_**

* * *

On the day of the Chunin Exams, the Sand siblings were one of the first to arrive. When a couple of Chunins went to go test the rest of the genins, Ayano went after them, curious as to how many genin would be fooled. The two Chunins noticed her, but did nothing since she wasn't bothering them, only watching. And judging the few genins that were fooled by the genjutsu, if her expression was anything to go by.

Ayano watched as Sasuke and his teammates reveal that it was a genjutsu. She had her eyes on the chunin about to kick Sasuke and she just acted. Within the blink of an eye, she was holding the chunin's leg in a vise like grip, seemingly exerting no effort into holding his leg still. The boy dressed in green stopped Sasuke's leg. Everyone was shocked at Ayano's strength and speed, while a certain Hyuuga stared at her suspiciously, but his eyes widened at the sight of the curse mark right at the nape of her neck.

_'A curse mark? Is she similar to me?' _The Hyuuga's thought caught Ayano's attention, but she didn't visibly react to it.

She stared back at the Hyuuga with no expression on her face before looking at the chunin. Ayano glared at him for a second before hearing a familiar voice.

"Hey! You're that girl from a few days ago!" she looked over her shoulder and stared at the hyperactive boy for a second before her upper lip curled in distaste. Letting go of the Chunin's leg, she then disappeared in a swirl of blackish red mist.

When Sasuke and his team finally arrived, Sasuke's attention went to Ayano, who was standing next to her brother, Gaara. The two twins were staring at a few of the genin, but upon feeling his gaze, Ayano looked over at him.

Her eyes softened ever so slightly, but grew hard when she saw a blonde girl jump onto his back. Gaara glanced at her and grabbed her wrist, stopping her from going to possibly rip the blonde's head off in front of so many people. When she had calmed down, she looked at Gaara, who let her go, then began walking in the direction of the rookie nine.

The rookie nine looked up when they heard her approaching. The blonde girl, who had gotten off of Sasuke's back, stared at Ayano's face, body and clothes rather enviously. Ayano smirked at the jealous thoughts of the blonde girl before she looked at the others, but her attention was mainly on Sasuke.

"We all haven't officially met. I'm Ayano. Sabaku no Ayano." as she spoke, she smirked slightly as she noticed nearly all the boys, except for a boy who was eating chips, blush. She then noticed another face who wasn't blushing. "Oh. Kabuto-san. You're here." Said male only smiled at her as the rookies introduced themselves, except for Sasuke.

"I'm Uzumaki, Naruto and I'm going to be Hokage someday! Believe it!" The hyperactive blonde boy said.

"I'm Haruno, Sakura." said the pink haired girl.

"Nara, Shikamaru." said a boy who had hair that looked like a pineapple.

"Yamanake, Ino." The blonde girl said.

"Akimichi, Choji." The one eating ships said.

"Inuzuka, Kiba and this is my ninken, Akamaru." A boy with a fur lined hood said as he introduced himself and his dog.

"Hy-Hyuuga, H-Hinata." A shy Hyuuga girl said.

"Aburame, Shino." A boy with his jacket collar covering half his face said.

Kabuto then looked at Sasuke and the others before explaining about his ninja info cards. Sasuke wanted to see Sabaku no Gaara's card, along with Rock Lee of the Leaf Village.

"Do hers as well! Her name is Sabaku no Ayano." Sakura said, pointing at Ayano. Ayano just stared at her for a minute or two, then began to walk away as Kabuto read off Gaara's information along with Rock Lee's. Then he read off Ayano's.

"Sabaku no Ayano. Her teammates are Gaara, Kankuro and Temari. There isn't much information about her, but from what she told me when we met a year ago when I was out on a mission, she was kidnapped at the age of three and was experimented on for months." The rookie nine and every genin who was listening looked shocked. "She gained extraordinary powers because of it and trained with them before being trained by one of the three Sannins. The missions that she went on are..." Kabuto's voice trailed off as he stared at the card.

"What?" The pink haired genin asked. The rest of rookie nine were also curious.

"She had 6 C-rank missions, 17 B-rank missions, and over 30 A-rank missions. A special note: A few days before the exams, Ayano was taken advantage of when she was extremely weakened. This incident caused her twin to become extremely over protective of her. Her personality changed drastically after that incident." The rookie nine looked over at Ayano, all of them shocked once again. Sasuke, Shikamaru and elsewhere, Neji, understood the true meaning of the words, 'taken advantage of when she was weakened.' and the meaning of those words were enough to make the three Leaf genins' eyes narrow dangerously.

_'Who would do that to a girl?'_ Neji thought as he looked at Ayano. Sasuke felt a fierce protectiveness over Ayano, but had no clue why he was feeling that.

Meanwhile, Ayano had closed her eyes as she stood next to Gaara, who would glare every time a boy would stare at her. The Rookie Nine took note of that and all made mental notes to stay far from them during the exam.

◇ ◇ Time Skip to The Start Of the Written Exam Cause I'm too Lazy To Write What Happens Next ◇ ◇

The proctor, Morino, Ibiki, had just let them start the written exams. Ayano was sitting nearest to the windows, next to a Grass ninja, whose thoughts were extremely well-guarded, which surprised Ayano, and who would stare at her as if she knew something about her, and behind a Chunin disguised as a Genin. That disguise didn't fool her, since she was able to read his thoughts. Feeling her curse mark burn a bit, she lifted a hand and put it over the mark, a movement that didn't go unnoticed by the Grass nin.

She smirked internally as she saw the Chunin write down the answers with ease. It was so easy to slip into his mind and get the correct answers. As soon as she was done, she saw Gaara's Third Eye appear in front of her, so she let him see her answers as she quite convincingly pretended to look over her test to make sure that the answers were correct. When his Third Eye disappeared, she flipped her test over and closed her eyes, seeming to fall asleep.

When she opened her eyes again, it was when she heard the glass shattering as a rock was thrown through it and someone jumped through. A glass shard cut her cheek while a sort of force field formed and blocked any more from hitting her. The genins close by stared at her, as did the proctors, as the blood was being sucked back into the cut as it healed before their very eyes. Ayano stared at the next proctor with an unidentified look in her turquoise eyes as the proctor introduced herself.

"I'm Mitarashi, Anko, your next proctor." After looking around the room, she said, "How many are there? Ibiki," She turned to look at him. "You let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy. You must be getting soft!"

"Or, it could be, a stronger crop of candidates this year."

"Hmm... they don't look it. Trust me, before I'm done with them, more than half will be eliminated."

Ayano didn't seem shocked at all, but Sakura seemed shocked. "Huh? More than half, really?"

"Are you deaf? She clearly said that, didn't she?" Ayano said with a smirk as she looked over at the pinkette.

"This is gonna be fun." Anko said with a smirk as she looked at Ayano for a second, then she continued speaking. "Alright, you maggots have had it easy so far, _but _things are gonna be different first thing in the morning! I'll let your squad leaders know where you're to meet me. Dismissed."

With that, Ayano stood up and walked over to Gaara, both of them seemingly unaware of Anko's stare on her when she saw a glimpse of Ayano's curse mark. The two twins walked out of the room with Kankuro and Temari following them.

They were going back to their hotel when Ayano saw the Grass nin from before watching her, licking her - his? - lips. Her curse mark began burning again, but she ignored it as she looked over at Gaara, who had that protective glint in his eyes again as he glared menacingly at any male who dared to look at Ayano, much to her unending amusement. Ayano then looked around the village and once in her hotel room, she made a few clones of herself and had them sent around the village. She was aiming to uncover this village's darkest secrets.

A dark smirk formed on Ayano's lips as she thought about the next part of the exams. She couldn't wait, having read Anko's mind earlier and knowing what to expect when they were to meet her again the next day. And she couldn't wait to expose all of Konoha's deepest and darkest secrets.


	2. Forest of Death and Preliminary Round

**_"Whose fault is it that things ended like this? Coincidence? An accident? Fate?There's no such thing as fate. It's simply a combination of one circumstance and the next. And who is it that creates those circumstances? Who is it? It's you." - Kamishiro Rize_**

* * *

The next day, they were standing in front of a forest, being briefed about the forest, which is known as the Forest of Death. Gaara had no expression as he looked over the forest while Ayano had an unnoticeable smirk on her lips. The twins watched Naruto mock the proctor, Anko, resulting in his cheek being cut by a kunai that she threw at him. Ayano sniffed discreetly and had to bite her tongue to prevent herself from licking her lips. His blood smelled delicious, but that was probably just because she was already thirsty for blood.

Anyways, once Ayano caught sight of the Grass ninja's long tongue as it held the kunai that Anko had thrown at Naruto, her smirk grew big enough to be noticeable. Kankuro and Temari stared in what seemed to be horror at the two twins when Anko announced that they'll be spending five days the forest. Kankuro and Temari seemed terrified as they stared at the twins.

"More than enough time to get rid of some of the competition." Ayano stated lowly with a dark smirk, but nearly everyone heard her. The female Grass ninja and her team was close by, smirking when they heard what Ayano said.

"I agree, little sister" Gaara said as he looked at her. The two twins shared a bloodthirsty smile before looking out at the forest again.

After getting their scrolls when they turned in the paper they needed to sign, the Sand siblings waited at the gate they were assigned. Ayano and Gaara both stared into the forest, the former closing her eyes to concentrate on the forest.

* * *

Ayano and Gaara were staring at the Rain ninjas in front of them, both of them expressionless. The former was aware of three people watching their encounter, but didn't do anything about it.

"Sand Village kids coming to challenge us forthright," One of the Rain ninja said.

"It's foolish." another said.

Ayano and Gaara simply stared at them. Gaara, with a stoic expression and Ayano, with a cheerful grin. Temari and Kankuro stared at the ninja with frowns.

"Hey, kids, you should pick your opponents... you're all going to die." The leader of the Rain ninja said.

"That's enough of you." Gaara said monotonously.

"Let's do this quickly... old chap from the Hidden Rain Village." Ayano said, closing her eyes as her grin faded into her usual stoic expression.

"Hey Gaara, Ayano! Doesn't it make sense to follow them and gather information before hunting them? If they have the same type of scroll, there's no need to fight. Unnecessary battles are..."

"It doesn't matter." Ayano interrupted, surprising the Rain nins.

**"If their eyes meet with ours... we'll kill them all."** Gaara and Ayano said at the same time.

"Well, let's do it. Quickly!" The Rain ninja said as he grabbed something over both his shoulders.

Ayano smirked. "Nii-san..." She didn't say anything else, and Gaara looked at her for a moment before saying, "Just make sure they can't run away." She nodded once and her iridescent, sapphire blue eyes slowly began to glow red as she smirked. While that was happening, she sensed senbon raining down, and a blackish-red mist formed a force-field around her, protecting her from the senbon.

Then she inhaled softly and straightened slightly as she uttered one word that made the two other Rain ninja scream and writhe. "Pain." It felt like they were being drowned in acid, stabbed with needles and were being ripped apart all at once. Gaara grabbed an umbrella, having already trapped the leader of the Rain shinobi in his sand.

"I can cover your loud mouth and kill you..." Gaara began to say.

"but that would be too boring." Ayano finished, her eyes still glowing red.

Gaara's clawed hand moved up and off to the side, making the sand surrounding the Rain ninja to lift up into the air. Then, his hand turned into a fist. _"Sand Coffin!" _The sand then crushed the Rain ninja, which made it rain blood. Ayano heard a scream with her enhanced hearing and looked off in a different direction as her eyes returned back to its sapphire blue hue.

"Gaara onii-sama...I'm going to go check something out." Ayano said.

"Alright. Let us know where you are."

"Hai." She murmured and dissolved the black crystal umbrella before she ninja jumped away.

Anko was confronting a certain Snake Sannin when Ayano jumped past them. Only to stop and backtrack when she saw Orochimaru.

Ayano said nothing, only observed their fight before she turned and left, towards where the scream had come from.

* * *

Ayano stood in a tree right in the view of Neji and Tenten. She was just watching Sasuke beat up then break Zaku's arms with a malicious smile and only interfered when Sasuke was about to go after Dosu.

She stood beside him and wrapped her arms around him, gaining his attention. "Calm down, Sasuke-kun. This isn't you right now." She said, knowing that everyone in the clearing that isn't unconscious could hear her.

Neji's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the marks on Sasuke's face withdraw back into a mark exactly like Ayano's. Once it was in control, she smiled at him slightly and let him go. "I hope to see you soon, Sasuke-kun. Preferably in the tower after passing." She handed him something, surprising him, before she turned her head. She looked, more like glared, at the Sound Ninjas as her bloodlust came to life, alerting Gaara, Temari and Kankuro to her location. The three Sand Siblings went to the source of the bloodlust.

"A-Ayano-sama!" Dosu stuttered as Ayano glared at them.

"Dosu...tell Zaku that if he ever tries to do that again...I'll kill him slowly." Ayano's voice became void of any emotion as she spoke and Dosu nodded. He left his team's scroll, picked up Zaku, then Kin before leaving.

"Wait!" Sakura yelled as Ayano looked at Sasuke and supported his weight. Dosu glanced back at her. "Who's Orochimaru?! What does he want with Sasuke?!" After Dosu told her that he didn't know, only that his team was given the order to assassinate Sasuke, he left.

"Orochimaru is the one who raised me for most of my life." Ayano stated nonchalantly, shocking Sakura and Sasuke. "He's a Sannin and may come off as evil and a pedophile, but his...evilness...is not entirely his fault, though I can't exactly say the same for his...pedophile-ness. Training under him has made me stronger though, and I owe him my life." She touched her own curse mark absently, drawing Sasuke's attention to it. "I don't know why he gave Sasuke-kun a curse mark, but I'm going to find out. Once I locate him, of course. Knowing him, he left the second he put that curse mark on Sasuke-kun."

With that, she gently set Sasuke onto the ground and looked to the side as Gaara, Temari and Kankuro appeared. Sensing the huge amount of chakra, Neji looked towards them, or more specifically, Gaara.

"Ayano, let's go." Gaara said, and Ayano nodded.

"Coming, nii-san." She looked down at Sasuke, then poked his forehead with her index and middle fingers, much to his shock, before she walked to her siblings. Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows when he felt a memory pop into his head. He looked at Ayano just as she turned to look at him, then made an unfamiliar hand seal before she and her siblings jumped off towards the tower.

Somehow, he knew that that was the hand seal to activate that specific memory, before he looked at what Ayano handed him. It was a Heaven scroll, and the Sound ninja had given them an Earth scroll. He showed Sakura the scroll and the female kunoichi cheered happily as Shikamaru and Choji woke up Naruto. Team 7 then made their way to the tower, ready to have at least a couple of days rest.

When they reached the tower, both Gaara's and Ayano's eyes looked at the camera for a couple seconds from the corner of their eyes before they all entered the tower. They walked past three people. Ayano looked at them from the corner of her eye, as did Gaara while Temari and Kankuro turned their heads to look at them with smirks, and recognized the three as Hinata, Shino and Kiba. Her attention went to the pup cowering in the Inuzuka's jacket and a smirk formed on her lips.

* * *

Anko was in a room with two ANBU members and a Chunin, thinking about what Orochimaru had said.

**Flashback no Jutsu**

**_"You already have that girl that was just here! Why do you need the Uchiha!?" Anko yelled at Orochimaru after he had told her the name of the person he was after when Ayano left._**

**_"My, my. Do I sense some jealousy, Anko?" Orochimaru seemed amused. "Ayano-chan is my protege, a prodigy among her siblings besides her twin. Besides...something tells me that Ayano already lay a claim on the Uchiha. It would've been cruel of me if I didn't give him the same gift I gave her."_**

**_Anko groaned a little in pain as her curse mark acted up. Orochimaru left after not so subtly threatening to destroy the village if the Exams were halted._**

**Flashback no Jutsu Kai**

The Chunin pointed out that the Sand Siblings had beaten the time that any team had ever arrived at the tower, but after a minute or two of watching the video, Anko pointed something else out.

"That's not the only thing. Look at that redhead and the girl with the sapphire blue eyes." The two ANBUs did so and noticed it right away, while the Chunin took a bit longer to see it.

What they saw?

Gaara and Ayano...with absolutely no injuries.

* * *

All the teams that passed the second phase were standing in what seemed to be an arena in the building. Ayano didn't listen to the Hokage as he spoke, since her attention had went to the sensei of the Sound genin. There was something...familiar about him.

However, when it was announced that there would be a preliminary round, Ayano's eyes snapped to the proctor and a deadly smirk formed on her lips as everyone else, except for her team and Team 7, complained about having to fight so soon.

"Whoever feels as if they aren't up for it can withdraw now." The proctor said before breaking into a fit of coughs. Ayano's attention was soon grabbed by Sasuke though, when he flinched and grabbed his shoulder. As she stared at him, wondering if his flinch was because of the curse mark causing him pain or if it was something else entirely, she heard the conversation the jounin were having.

"What do we do with him?" one of the male jounin asked. If Ayano remembered correctly, and she did, the jounin's name is Ibiki.

"I'll tell you what to do! Get an ANBU team down there and lock him up, stat! That girl too!" Anko spat out as she motioned to Ayano, whose unsealed curse mark was visible to the jounins from their spot above them.

Ayano looked towards them and smirked ever so slightly as her voice rang out through their heads._'I dare you to try and lock us up...Anko Mitarashi. Wouldn't want Orochimaru-sensei destroying the village, now would you?' _

The jounins' eyes widened. Ayano hadn't said anything aloud, nor did she make any handsigns. Anko growled lowly and grabbed her own curse mark.

"The curse mark eats you up alive! It's painful and it tears its host apart. It's a miracle that both those kids are still standing."

_'Is it really that surprising? I've had this mark for three years. It hasn't torn me apart. Maybe you're just weak and can't handle the pain like I can.' _Ayano taunted Anko mentally, that much was apparent from the way she was smirking smugly and from the way Anko looked about ready to rip off Ayano's head, but was held back by the other jounins. A certain Sound jounin was watching the mental interaction between Ayano and Anko with amusement. Kabuto and some other dude withdrew.

"Now that there's twenty of you, we can move on. There will be ten matches. You'll be paired randomly, so look at the screen." The proctor said, coughing at every other word.

The pair that was to fight first:

**Kagero**

**VS**

**Sabaku no Ayano**

Ayano looked at the girl she was fighting and then looked at her siblings. Or more specifically, Gaara. He gave her a look that said to not lose and as her reply to him, she smirked. Everyone else went to the second floor of the tower so they weren't in the way.

Ayano's gaze went to the third proctor, then to her opponent, Kagero, who looked around her mid-twenties and was smirking at Ayano, who just narrowed her eyes as her expression went serious. Unbeknownst to her opponent, Ayano was looking through her mind, looking for any weaknesses.


	3. Fight of a Bushy Brows and a Non-brow

**_"Death is terrible for anyone. Young or old, good or evil, it's all the same. Death is Impartial. There is no especially terrible death. That's why death is so fearsome. Your deeds, your age, __your personality, __your wealth, __your beauty: they are all meaningless in the face of death." - Kirishiki Sunako_**

* * *

When they were given the signal to start, Ayano did nothing, except for glance at something above them before refocusing her gaze on Kagero. She had caught a glimpse of a crow watching them, but didn't bother to point it out.

She just stood there and stared at Kagero [who is a Hidden Leaf kunoichi], as she went through her mind. Kagero quickly grew irritated of her staring and struck first, deciding to use taijutsu, thinking that Ayano wouldn't be able to keep up. However, large crystal wings sprouted from behind Ayano and protected her from every blow, much to everyone's shock. Ayano smirked slightly as she found a specific memory.

Her siblings, seeing her smirk, knew that she was up to something. The jounins, including a disguised Orochimaru, just had to wonder what she was planning. Her crystal wings disappeared all of a sudden and she got kicked into the wall. When the dust cleared, Ayano whimpered and spoke to Kagero, saying, "Nee-chan?"

Kagero froze in shock. "Megumi?"

"Why didn't you save me, nee-chan? Why didn't you keep your promise?" Ayano, or rather, Megumi, asked. She sounded and even looked different. Ibiki realized her game, as did Orochimaru, Kabuto and her siblings, who smirked.

"She's playing a mind game." Ibiki murmured to the other jounins.

"Megumi, I..." Kagero stopped talking as she seemed to realize something, then said, "You're dead. I-I saw you die."

"Because you didn't protect me like you promised to. You promised me that you would protect me from those men, but you didn't. So they used me, then murdered me." 'Megumi' had tears in her eyes. "You left me to die. All because of one man." Her voice took on a dark tone.

Kagero went silent, then said, "Forgive me, imouto." she then summoned a metal staff that had a blade at the tip of it before running it through Ayano's chest. Or rather, she tried to. Startled by the sudden move, Ayano dodged it by bending backward as her illusion of Megumi faded. Kagero had realized that it was just an illusion, since she was smirking at Ayano as she straightened. "My sister would never talk to me like that."

Everyone, other than the two opponents and Ayano's siblings and Sensei, gasped when they realized that it was just an illusion. Ayano's eyes narrowed as she mentally kicked herself for slipping up. Then she began to walk around Kagero, and after images of her began forming until there was multiple Ayanos, all of them talking at once. "That was a smart move, Kagero-san...but can you tell which one of us is the real one?" she asked, her voice echoing throughout the room. As a response, Kagero launched forward, swinging her staff at one of the Ayanos, only to stumble as she picked the wrong one.

"Wrong." Ayano smirked. She inhaled deeply, closing her eyes. Then she opened them and looked directly into Kagero's eyes and her smirk grew as her own eyes glowed red, shocking the others in the room. Sasuke couldn't help but think that she looked like an Uchiha, with her black hair and glowing red eyes.

"Pain." She said, and Kagero screamed, throwing her head back as she felt pain spread throughout her body. It was like she was being drowned in acid. With difficulty, she stood up, looked at Ayano and threw her staff with blinding speed into Ayano's chest.

Ayano decided to fool everyone, except her siblings of course, and fell down on her back, her sapphire blue eyes, dull and lifeless. When everyone glanced at her siblings, they were shocked to see that they didn't even seem sad. Only amused. Kagero, relieved that the pain stopped, walked to Ayano's 'dead' body, pulled out the staff and turned around, looking at the proctor expectantly. Right when the proctor was about to declare Kagero the winner, his eyes widened, as did practically everyone in the building, when black crystals shot out of nowhere and nearly impaled Kagero, who managed to dodge at the last second.

Then, Ayano stood up.

* * *

**Akatsuki's POV **

Everyone in the base watched the fight between Ayano and Kagero through a jutsu that was connected to the crow that Ayano had seen. A certain Uchiha was watching with his Sharingan, copying every move she made. The leader was also watching, intrigued when crystal wings protected Ayano and when she successfully fooled her opponent with an illusion without doing any handsigns. A certain, cursing immortal [a/n: *cough cough* Hidan *cough cough*] watched her as well, obviously curious about her.

They were all impressed with her ability to inflict pain without doing anything, but were disappointed when she 'died.' They began to turn to go back to doing whatever they were doing, when Tobi yelled.

"Ehhh!? She isn't dead!"

That drew the entire Akatsuki's attention back to the fight. Tobi had been right. Ayano wasn't dead. And the wound that should have been there from when the staff was buried in her chest was gone, as if nothing had happened.

"Is she... an immortal as well, un?" A blonde, Deidara, asked as Ayano held out her hand and blackish red mist formed around her hands, wrapping around the staff in Kagero's hand.

"How the fuck should any of us know?" Hidan asked as Kagero jumped up into the air and blew out outwards, sending a cloud of green smoke towards Ayano.

"That's poison." Sasori stated, telling the others what that green cloud is.

Ayano wasn't even affected by the poison as she walked through the green cloud, "So you also specialize in poisons...well too bad for you, because poisons don't affect me." Then she flicked her fingers towards herself and the staff flew from Kagero's and into Ayano's. Before Kagero can turn around, Ayano was already behind her and had already shoved the staff all the way through her back.

Kagero coughed up blood as she looked at Ayano. "H-How...?" She then realized something. "Y-You're Suna's Assassin...aren't you!?" Ayano shrugged slightly, not denying it. "H-How are you still alive!?"

"Suna's Assassin? Kakuzu, have you heard of her?" The masked man nodded.

"I met her once or twice on a mission. Tried to kill her both those times since she is worth nearly 500 million ryo but she never dies. Only shakes off my attacks, heals, and then disappears without a trace. That was when I realized that she's immortal."

_"Nearly 500 million ryo?!"_ shouted Hidan, Deidara, Kisame, Tobi, and surprisingly, Itachi and Sasori.

"Yeah. I guess she pissed off quite a few powerful people." Kakuzu muttered.

_**"Death just doesn't seem to agree with me. After all...I am immortal."**_ They heard Ayano say, making them look away from Kakuzu and look at her as she stared at her blood covered hands and looked at Kagero before simply licking the blood off of them, keeping eye contact with Kagero as she did so.

"That's a fucking good excuse. I need to fucking use that excuse someday." Hidan muttered, not cursing as much as he usually does, which was strange.

Tobi, meanwhile, was uncharacteristically quiet as he kept his gaze on Ayano as she opened her mouth to reveal dangerously sharp fangs as her blood lust got the better of her. Seconds later, she bit down, harshly, on Kagero's neck and began to feed. Something about Ayano seemed familiar, but what was it?

The proctor and jounins couldn't stop Ayano as she drained her opponent of blood. They tried to pull her away from Kagero, but Ayano would retaliate by baring her sharp and bloody fangs at them. When she was done feeding, she carelessly dropped Kagero's now dead body as she licked her blood covered lips and was announced as the winner. Having been announced as the winner, Ayano went to go clean off the blood on her face, her face expressionless.

"Oh! Tobi remembers now!" The members looked at him curiously.

"What do you mean, Tobi?" Sasori asked.

"Tobi saw her with Orochimaru when she was younger!"

Pein and the other members thought about it, and Zetsu said, "Now that you mentioned it Tobi, I remember seeing her train with Orochimaru every day. **She's the sister of the One Tails, isn't she?** Younger twin sister, right?"

Itachi nodded once. "Hn. She used her abilities to erase all of your memories of her. It didn't work on me, but I pretended it did."

And with those words, the block on all of the Akatsuki's memories was broken. Memories of the times they had with Ayano when she was younger now flooded into their heads.

Memories of when she would help Kakuzu count his money or give him a ridiculously large amount of money for him to count.

Memories of when she would help Zetsu with his garden.

Memories of when Ayano helped Sasori with creating lethal poisons.

Memories of when Ayano simply told Pein that he could've used shadow clones to do all the paperwork.

Memories of when Konan taught Ayano how to do origami.

Memories of how Ayano sometimes helped Hidan with his rituals by finding suitable victims for him to use.

Memories of how Ayano would give Tobi candy for being a good boy.

Memories of Deidara teaching Ayano how to make clay sculptures that, luckily, didn't explode.

Memories of Ayano being taught how to fight with a sword while walking on water by Kisame while Itachi ate dango and watched them.

Memories of how she would somehow go into chibi form and try to bite their fingers whenever Orochimaru was too busy to train her or whenever she was bored or thirsty.

And memories of her melodious and siren-like voice when she sings to alleviate the boredom of doing nothing while in the base.

* * *

**Konoha POV**

Sensing two people following her, she turned her head and saw the Sound jounin [aka Orochimaru [or Orochipedo]] walking towards her. Kabuto was walking a little ways behind him.

"Orochimaru-sensei." She murmured as she looked up at him.

"Ayano-chan. You did a good job." Orochimaru praised as he put a hand on her head. Ayano smiled up at him.

"Thank you, sensei. Kagero wasn't even a challenge. I didn't even have to use Chakra or any of the jutsus that I developed." Ayano complained.

"You mean, stole." Kabuto muttered, making her shrug slightly.

"Oh, and the Akatsuki was spying on us through a crow." The other two glanced at each other, but looked at Ayano again when she said, "I need to go wash off that wench's blood. It was too... bland for my taste."

Orochimaru and Kabuto both seemed amused as Ayano turned and walked to the restrooms to wash off the blood on her face.

* * *

**Akatsuki POV**

The Akatsuki members watched the current fight silently and noticed when Ayano got back just in time to see Gaara's fight with the boy with green spandex on. Rock Lee, if she remembered correctly. Ayano stood next to the Hyuuga boy, who she felt stare at her curse mark.

She didn't pay attention to him though, choosing to focus on her brother's fight instead. Gaara just stood still, with his arms crossed, as Rock Lee used Taijutsu to fight him. Sand blocked his every move, protecting him. Ayano made to walk to Kankuro, but was stopped by a hand on her wrist. Her eyes snapped to the Hyuuga, then at his hand, looking as if she wanted to bite off his hand. Reading his mind, she closed her eyes and said, "You want to know how my brother is doing that with the sand, don't you, Neji?"

"Yes, I would." he said. Ayano looked at him, while at the Akatsuki base, they listened to her explanation.

"The sand shields and protects Gaara on its own accord, independently of any intent on Gaara's part. It's the absolute defense." Ayano said with a smirk. She could feel Gaara's bloodlust starting to emerge, and she responded to his bloodlust with her own, her canine teeth starting to elongate into fangs. "Your teammate is going to die..." Ayano dissipated into mist, not caring to see the look of shock on Rock Lee's teammate's faces. She reformed in between Kankuro and the jinchuriki, Naruto, both of whom started and backed away from her. She didn't care though, as her blood thirsty gaze was locked onto her twin's fight. With her enhanced hearing, she was able to hear what Gaara said.

"Blood!" he growled as sand went after Rock Lee, wrapping around one of his ankles and throwing him against a wall. Lee tried to dodge all the sand that came at him, but failed when he stepped on some sand that made him slip and fall. Eventually, he was given permission and took off what seemed to be weights.

When he dropped the weights, which caused a crater to form, he seemed happy and excited. Everyone was surprised at the crater the weights made, although Gaara and Ayano both didn't show it. The speed at which Lee now moved did worry Ayano , since Gaara seemed surprised every time his sand would seem as if it was hit while protecting him. Lee's speed was no where near Ayano's true speed, but Gaara was still caught off guard when Lee somehow manages to get past his sand and punch him in the face.

Kakashi looked at Ayano and noticed how tight her grip was on the railing. "Gai." said male looked at Kakashi, who motioned with his head to Ayano. Both jounins watched as Ayano's knuckles turned white when Lee punched Gaara. The genins nearby, jounins and chunins could hear the metal under her hands groaning as Ayano restrained herself from jumping down to interfere with the fight.

"She's strong." Kisame noted. "Very strong."

Sasori watched with slight interest as Kankuro used his chakra strings to hold Ayano back when Gaara was hit once more, and she looked at him, glaring menacingly. "You're lucky I can't inflict mental pain on you or control you, _Kankuro_." She spat out lowly and he flinched slightly, but kept his chakra strings attached to her to keep her from jumping down to interfere with Gaara's fight.

Gaara, feeling the anger and protectiveness coming from his twin, stood up, growling a little bit as he grinned insanely. His Sand Armor had been cracked, it seemed. Sand began to lift up and swirl around him, reforming his Sand Armor. Kankuro released his chakra strings when it seemed that Ayano had calmed down, and he explained what Gaara's Sand Armor was to Naruto.

"Hurry up and bring it on!" Gaara said in a monotone voice.

"You asked for it!" Lee said with a smirk. He then kicked Gaara under the chin repeatedly and and when Lee closed his eyes and flinched in pain, Ayano smirked, not really worried, while Gaara's eyes widened, that insane glint in his eyes. Naruto, who saw her smirk, seemed confused. The Akatsuki seemed to understand why she was smirking and smirked themselves.

"Hey, why is she smirking -ttebayo? Shouldn't she be getting angry?" Kankuro looked at Ayano and sure enough, she was smirking. Kankuro shrugged. However, the reason for her smirking soon became clear. The Gaara that was now lying on the ground wasn't really him. It was just a Sand clone. Ayano inhaled slowly as Gaara appeared and his sand knocked Lee into a wall again.

"That Bowl Cut's totally worn down...Gaara's just toying with him. Look at Ayano," Naruto looked at Ayano, who had moved from where she had been standing before. He saw that bloodthirsty look in her eyes. "She's restraining herself from joining Gaara, like she usually does when he toys with their opponent, because she doesn't want him to lose." Ayano's lips were slightly parted, the sharp tips of her fangs visible.

Lee looked up and saw that Ayano had moved so that she was standing behind the railing directly above and behind Gaara. As he stared at the two twins, he saw that they both had that bloodthirsty look in their eyes. The two twins licked their upper lips at the exact same time, seeming to almost taste the blood that is yet to be spilled. The only difference between them was that Ayano had sharp fangs that were glinting in the light as she stared at Lee. Seeing the fangs, Kisame whistled.

"Her fangs are longer and sharper than when we saw her when she was younger."

"They were so short and dull back then." Konan murmured as she remembered the younger Ayano's fangs, which hadn't even been sharp enough to draw blood when she bit someone while in chibi form.

As the fight progressed, it seemed as if Gaara was going to win. Gaara looked up at Ayano, who met his gaze and simply smirked. He smirked back at her before turning his attention to Lee again as his sand kept on attacking him. After Sakura shouted at Lee to tell him to give up, Lee had begun to dodge the attacks. Ayano simply smirked as she spoke, drawing the other genins' and jounins' attention. "You can't keep up that speed forever...Rock Lee."

Anko stared at her with an unreadable look. In the Forest of Death, Ayano's speed seemed to be even greater than Lee's and even Gai's. No one would believe Anko if she told them that though, since Ayano hadn't even seemed fast enough to dodge that metal staff from before, unless they saw Ayano's true speed for themselves. Ayano turned her head and met her gaze unflinchingly. Ayano stared at Anko for a few minutes, looked at where Anko's curse mark was at, then smirked darkly before looking at her twin's fight again, just in time to see Lee punch Gaara while they were both in mid-air.

Ayano stared at the bowl-cut haired boy and a menacing hiss escaped her, scaring Shino, Akamaru and Kiba, who all stared at her in fear at the killing intent that suddenly began leaking from her. Gaara's gourd had turned into sand to cushion his fall, but he still fell hard enough to crack the ground under him. He looked at Ayano, who met his gaze with protectiveness and anger. The genins' and jounins' eyes widened when she growled out: "Kill him, aniki! Or I will! And I plan to make his death _very _slow for hurting you!" The Akatsuki stared at her though they knew she couldn't see them, shocked at her protectiveness over her brother.

Gaara nodded once and looked at Lee. Gaara's arm lifted, his fingers curled into claws, in the direction of Lee. Sand began moving towards Lee at a fast pace, too fast for a tired out Lee to dodge. Gaara's hand then turned into a fist. _"Sand Coffin!"_ He growled just as Lee got up to try and dodge the attack. Sand wrapped around Lee's left arm and leg and tightened harshly, completely shattering the bones in his hand, arm, leg and foot. Lee let out a pained scream, causing Kakashi, Sakura and Neji to gasp.

**"Die!"** Gaara and Ayano said in sync, the latter's eyes narrowing. More sand was about to crush Lee, when Ayano saw Gai dart in and swipe away the attack with an arm. Ayano snarled in frustration as she jumped down and flashed over to her brother with her true speed, helping him up and ignoring the shock that she could practically feel from the watching genins, jounins, chunins and the Hokage. The twins both looked shocked at Gai's move, Gaara more so than Ayano.

Gaara seemed to have a flashback of sorts and made a noise of pain as he clutched his head. Ayano had a similar reaction, remembering something from the part of her dark past that she had tried to lock away. Then, looking at Gai while holding their heads, Ayano asked, _**"Dōshite?"**_

"Why...save him?" The twins looked at Gai.

"He is... an important subordinate whom I care for!" Gai said firmly. The twins stared at him for a moment, then Gaara looked at Ayano, who still looked pissed off. When she felt Gaara look at her, she looked up at him (since she's an inch or two shorter than him) and they both seemed to have a conversation.

After a couple seconds, Ayano sighed and Gaara turned to start walking away, his gourd reforming. Ayano walked beside him as he said, "I quit."

The genins in the room seemed surprised. The proctor looked after Gaara and Ayano, raising his hand and was about to announce the winner.

"The winner... Gaa!" he cut himself off as he looked behind Gai. The twins stopped walking and looked over their shoulders. Gai looked behind him with gritted teeth, then he half turned to an unconscious Lee... who was standing up.

"That's impossible..." Gai said. The twins both half turned to look at Lee, who was in a position that said that he was going to continue fighting. At that sight, both twins turned to face Lee fully. Ayano looked at Kakashi as she heard his thoughts, furrowing her eyebrows in what seemed to be confusion.

Gai walked to Lee and put his hands on his shoulders. "Lee... it's all right. It's over! You're in no condition to stand...!" Gai gasped sharply. "Lee... y-you..." He started crying. "You are..." he was silent for a moment. "Even after having lost consciousness... you still want to prove your own Way of the Ninja...?"

Everyone in the room seemed either shocked or surprised, except for the emotionless faces of the twins and the Akatsuki [who were still in their base, btw]

"Lee... You're already... a respectable Ninja!" Gai brought the unconscious Lee into a hug.

"The winner... Gaara." The proctor said as he raised his arm in the twins' direction. Ayano had a few unidentifiable emotions in her eyes, as did Gaara, as they watched the jounin embrace his student. Neji and Kakashi seemed to be the only ones to see one certain emotion in the twins' eyes. The emotion in their eyes...was envy. Complete and extreme envy.

Ayano turned into black mist that flew towards the space next to Temari. Gaara turned into sand and did the same, landing next to Ayano. He stayed close to Ayano, who was already starting the process of restoring his chakra and healing any injury he might have sustained from his fight. Both twins were unaware of the looks that their older siblings and sensei were giving them.

The Akatsuki watched the pink haired genin, Sakura, along with Kakashi, Neji and the other genins from Konoha, walk to the two older Sand siblings and quietly asked Temari, "Why did Ayano look like that as she watched Gaara and Lee fight? She looked as if she wanted to murder Lee."

Temari looked at Sakura, then at the group behind the pinkette, before she answered the pinkette's question. "Ayano is...fiercely protective over Gaara...even if she is younger than him by five minutes. If he gets hurt, emotionally or physically, she'll want to murder whoever hurt him. She shows him the love that he's always wanted...but since no one has shown her the love she needs and misses, she doesn't really know how to show it."

"Is that why she had that look in her eyes when she watched Gai hug Lee?" Kakashi asked. Temari and Kankuro looked at each other, then shrugged.

"Maybe." Kankuro said. Ayano looked at them and her eyes narrowed.

"Talk about me as if I'm not here one more time, Kankuro, Temari...and I will not hesitate to drain you dry." Her voice was low and dangerous, which made Temari and Kankuro nod frantically. "Besides...you can't miss something you never had, even when you think that you had it."

"Ayano's right." Gaara said as he looked at them with narrowed eyes. Then , the two twins held hands and walked a bit further away so that they can watch the last match.

_'She's changed...' _Tobi thought as he watched Ayano. _'And she's gotten close to the One Tails.' _

"Leader-sama, are we ever going to confront her for making us not remember her?" Kisame asked Pein, who glanced at Tobi for a split second, making Itachi's eye narrow slightly in suspicion.

"Yes we will. Some other day." With that, he went back to his office, Konan following him. Zetsu disappeared underground, probably to go spy on Ayano and learn about her past or do something else. Tobi was soon his regular hyper-active self. Itachi just watched Ayano, who had looked straight at the crow with no emotions in her eyes. The other members just went to get missions or went to relax.

* * *

**_Well, there's the over protective side of Ayano, along with the pissed off side._**

**_If you were Gaara's younger twin, would you react the same?_**


	4. A Month of Boredom and Third Exams

_**"Never trust anyone too much. Remember, the Devil was once an Angel." - Kaneki Ken**_

_**The song does not belong to me. Just a heads up though: The song does contain a curse or two.**_

* * *

That night, Ayano was on the roof of the hotel. She was going up against a person named Sayuri, from the Hidden Grass village. She didn't bother trying to remember the girl's last name. She sighed as Gaara walked up onto the roof and sat down next to her. There was no need for training, as Ayano already had more jutsu that she never showed. She then began to sing to make herself less bored, and Gaara listened to her sing.

_**Been about three days and I'm comin' back**_  
_**I'm about four minutes from a heart attack**_  
_**And I think you make me a maniac**_  
_**But you don't know**_  
_**Two years and we in between**_  
_**But we both been here since we seventeen**_  
_**Here we go, fist fight in a limousine**_  
_**But they don't know**_

_**And we both hope there's something**_  
_**But we bo-both keep fronting**_  
_**And it's a closed discussion**_  
_**And I'm thinking "Damn, if these walls could talk"**_

_**Well, they'd be like**_  
_**(Oh-oh-oh)**_  
_**"Shit is crazy right?"**_  
_**(Oh-oh-oh)**_  
_**I ain't your baby no more**_

_**Been about two weeks since you went away**_  
_**I'm about halfway through a Cabernet**_  
_**And I go, I'm wastin' a Saturday**_  
_**Sittin' at home**_  
_**Told my new roommate not to let you in**_  
_**But you're so damn good with a bobby pin**_  
_**Now you gon' play me like a violin**_  
_**Hittin' these notes**_

_**And we both hope there's something**_  
_**But we bo-both keep fronting**_  
_**And it's a closed discussion**_  
_**And I'm thinking "Damn, if these walls could talk"**_

_**Well, they'd be like**_  
_**(Oh-oh-oh)**_  
_**"Shit is crazy right?"**_  
_**(Oh-oh-oh)**_  
_**I ain't your baby no more**_  
_**(Oh-oh-oh)**_  
_**Hey**_  
_**(Oh-oh-oh)**_  
_**No more**_  
_**(Oh-oh-oh)**_  
_**I ain't your baby no more**_

Both twins seemed to be unaware of a certain Uchiha and a certain swordsman watching them from the shadows.

* * *

A month had passed by rather quickly and on the night before the Third Exams, Gaara was sitting on the roof of the inn as usual. Ayano was standing behind him, her face tilted up to the full moon. She was humming to herself to pass the time, just like she has been doing the past month every night. Her humming was cut off as she heard some people approaching. Some familiar people.

"Well, well. Look at this. Don't you two ever sleep at all?" Dosu asked as he approached them with Zaku and Kin. Gaara looked down at them, as did Ayano. She seemed a bit annoyed.

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

"Zaku and Kin were planning on attacking Ayano while she slept, and as for me, I was planning on attacking you while you slept. If I fight and defeat you now, then in the next round, I can battle the one I really want to fight. Sasuke. I already know all about your sand attack." While Dosu spoke, Ayano's hand turned into a fist. "I wonder what is faster...your sand or my sound."

"Aniki?" Gaara looked at Ayano for a moment, then motioned for her to go ahead. She jumped down and landed across from Dosu. "You made a big mistake, Dosu, Zaku, Kin." Her curse mark activated and spread across her entire body, turning her skin a dead grey color and half of her hair white, the other, remaining black. Horns grew on her head and her eyes color turned yellow while the sclera of her eyes turned black. **[kinda like a ghoul's eyes]**

In the middle of her forehead was a small, black triple moon mark. Two large bat wings burst out from her back and made her yellow eyes seem to glow.

**"When the moon is full...** _**when the moon is full...**_ **its/_my_ blood/**_**bloodlust** **boils**_!" She and Gaara said at the same time as sand rose up and began blocking the moonlight. Dosu's eye widened in fear.

"Hu-huh? W-What in the world are you two?!" Dosu asked as he stared at the stand that began to completely cover the moonlight, then stared at Ayano, who's yellow eyes were glowing in the dark as her fangs descended.

Then, Ayano flashed upwards, her bat wings lifting her up into the air as she grinned somewhat insanely, "I don't know why you'd want to attack me, Zaku. Both your arms are destroyed." Seconds later, she was launching herself towards Zaku. Her nails, which had grown longer and extremely sharp, dug deep into Zaku's throat before he could even move out of the way. Kin screamed in horror as she witnessed that and also witnessed Gaara's sand killing Dosu.

Ayano returned her body to normal and made the hand seals: Horse → Monkey → Ram → Boar then placed her hand on the ground, looking directly at a terrified Kin.

_"Crystal Release: The Gods' Crossings Technique!"_

A long stream of crystals went towards Kin, who looked away from where Dosu had been standing last and would've moved, but sand was wrapped around her ankles, preventing her from running as they held her in place. The crystals pierced Kin's body, making her scream in pain. At least, until one of the crystals stabbed her in the throat. Ayano walked over to Kin's body and bit harshly into her neck, drinking her blood to placate her thirst.

After she had her fill, she dropped Kin's dead body and went to sit down on the other side of the roof.

"Did you really need to go into your second state of that curse mark, little sister?"

"No. I just wanted to scare the living shit out of them." She said with a slight smirk. Gaara sat down next to her and put his head in her lap, not really caring that she had blood all over her face. Then, a few minutes later, she was singing as she ran her fingers through his hair, her melodious and siren-like voice floating through the air.

**_You are an ocean of waves, weaving a dream,_**

**_Like thoughts become a river stream_**

**_Yet may the tide ever change, flowing like time_**

**_To the path, yours to climb_**

**_Thou seek the light with an outstretched hand_**

**_A divine blade lies before you,_**

**_So command the wake of dreams_**

**_To restore the world, cut 'way the seams_**

**_Join in our prayer, in our song of birthrights and love_**

**_Come the sun, illuminate the sky_**

**_Pray that we may quell the dark - Light take the throne_**

**_Lost in thoughts all alone_**

**_You are an ocean of waves, weaving a dream,_**

**_Like thoughts become a river stream_**

**_Yet may the tide ever change, flowing like time_**

**_To the path, yours to claim_**

**_Thou seek the dark with an unsheathed blade_**

**_Now a white, ivory throne beckons,_**

**_So obtain the fate you sow_**

**_On this path, be weary, friend an' foe_**

**_Join in the tale, in the blight, of conquest and lies_**

**_Come the sun, to tarnish in the sky_**

**_Vow that we shall tear the light – Dark seize the throne_**

**_Lost in thoughts, all alone_**

**_May thy chosen path lead way and grace you with virtue_**

**_But surely a balance awaits, so be it bliss or pain you gain_**

**_Beyond the route-way's end, you'll gain resilience and weakness_**

**_The trials, the thorn in your side, becomes the greatest strength in you_**

**_Descend into the abyss thou see_**

**_Where the hearts of many wander_**

**_Quietly, they wish and weave_**

**_Placing hope inside their one, pure dream_**

**_After the storm stills its wake, may all be blessed_**

**_So the fate and fallen can find rest_**

**_Your will, the water reflects, so all will know_**

**_Your hands brought the morrow_**

**_You are an ocean of waves, weaving a dream,_**

**_Like thoughts become a river stream_**

**_Yet may the tide ever change, flowing like time_**

**_To the path, yours to climb_**

**_You are an ocean of waves_**

As she was singing, she closed her eyes, relishing in the soft light of the full moon. Gaara closed his eyes and listened to her sing as if the two of them hadn't just killed some people.

* * *

The day of the Third Exams arrived and the Sand Siblings waited patiently for the exams to start. Ayano was humming to herself as she watched the Hokage and the Kazekage. There was an unidentifiable look in her eyes that disappeared when she blinked.

The blonde boy, Naruto Uzumaki, entered the arena yelling something about bulls and Ayano's nose wrinkled a little when she caught the scent of bulls and sweat. She didn't really listen to what else was said, choosing to instead look at her opponent. When it was time for the exams to finally start, it was Neji and Naruto who were to fight first. Ayano and her siblings went to observe the fight from where they were supposed to.

**[Skipping to her fight, 'cuz I'm too lazy to write everything out.] **

When it was her turn to fight, she disappeared from where she was standing within a swirl of psionic energy. Appearing in the arena, she waited for her opponent to arrive on the arena. Soon, Sayuri arrived and they started the match with taijutsu. Ayano would dodge some of the blows but decided to let some of Sayuri's blows hit her. After all, it wouldn't be fair if she dodged every hit, now would it?

Ayano thought that it would be satisfying to crush Sayuri's confidence that was sure to grow. Sayuri delivered a powerful kick that knocked Ayano into the wall of the arena. A couple seconds later, Ayano walked out of the dust cloud, completely unharmed, to Sayuri's shock. As Ayano walked towards her, Sayuri noticed how when the sun hit her at a certain angle, light seemed to reflect off of her.

"What? How are you uninjured?!" Sayuri voiced her confusion, making Ayano smirk.

"Heh. It's Crystal Armor. Pretty, right?" Sayuri didn't answer. Instead, she jumped back a few feet and made a hand seal and yelled: _"Fire Release: Fire Dragon Bullet!"_ A burst of fire was blown towards Ayano, who knew that she wouldn't be harmed but decided to counter it with her own jutsu.

_"Ice Release: Ice Rock Dome of Magnificent Nothingness!" _

A dome of ice formed around her and protected her from the flames. The ice dome didn't melt from the heat of the flames, surprising everyone watching. The dome of ice disappeared just as a gust of wind and leaves blew around the arena. When the wind stopped, in the middle of the arena was Sasuke and Kakashi, both of them standing back to back.

Ayano took this time to look Sasuke over, not so subtly checking him out once more. Sasuke, feeling her gaze, looked at her and smirked when he saw her checking him out once again.

"Sorry we're late. You wouldn't _believe_ the traffic." Kakashi said. Ayano soon looked away from Sasuke and Kakashi though and focused her attention on Sayuri. The sensei and student duo were told to get off the arena because of the fight currently going on and once they were in the stands, the fight continued. Ayano, no longer wanting to draw out this fight now that Sasuke was here to fight Gaara, darted forward and her fist brushed against Sayuri's arm.

Ayano smirked as she said, _"Ice Release: Earthen Consecutive Chains of Ice."_ The shinobi and audience had varying expressions of shock and or disbelief as Sayuri began to shiver violently.

Ayano then said mockingly, "It's a shame that you can't handle a little cold. Are all the shinobi from the Hidden Grass village this weak?" Sayuri gritted her teeth and attempted to warm herself up with chakra, which worked. Ayano simply smirked again when Sayuri began to perform another jutsu. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. You'd only end up..." Sayuri yelped when the cold returned to her body full force. "making yourself even colder." Ayano finished. "After all, this jutsu is meant to freeze you to death if you don't continuously use chakra to warm yourself up."

She watched as Sayuri's shivering seemed to stop as she used chakra to keep herself warm. "And thus, that means that you won't be able to counter this jutsu with your own." Ayano made the Tiger hand seal. _"Ice Release: Ten Thousand Ice Petals!" _and a barrage of ice darts formed in front of Ayano and shot forward. Sayuri managed to dodge some of them, but most of the ice darts were able to hit her. The sapphire eyed girl smirked wider as she lifted a hand and waved it towards Sayuri sharply, which caused the rest of the ice darts to finally embed themselves in Sayuri, piercing vital spots and killing her in an instant. The winner was clearly Ayano.

The people from Suna cheered at her win, but Ayano showed no other reaction to the cheers besides a self-satisfied smirk and a fist in the air as she walked out of the arena after being announced as the winner, which made the cheers intensify.

She met Gaara just as he killed a couple of shinobi that dared to try and threaten him. Ayano simply smirked, hugged him and whispered a 'Good luck, panda' before she continued walking past him and towards the waiting area for the contestants.

Arriving where her two other siblings were at, she soon decided to go to where the Konoha genins were at. The stands. When she appeared next to Lee in the form of her blackish red mist, which disappeared as soon as she was fully formed, the two jounins nearby were instantly wary, as was Ino and Sakura. Choji didn't seem to mind, so long as she didn't attempt to take his chips. However, their wariness seemed to fade when Ayano didn't even glance at Lee. Only stared at her twin brother.

Sasuke and Gaara were facing each other and after they were given the okay to start, sand began to come out of Gaara's gourd. It floated above him and upon seeing the sand, Sasuke jumped back a few feet.

_'So this is the sand Kakashi told me about...' _ He thought, then jerked in surprise when he heard, _'Be very careful and try not to let my brother kill you, ducky.'_ He looked for the source of the mental voice and met the gaze of Ayano.

_'Ducky?' _He thought incredulously, raising an eyebrow.

_'Yeah, ducky. Because of your hair.' _Ayano smirked at him, then 'said' to him, _'Now, focus. Unless you want my brother to kill you, of course.' _Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly at her, but there was an unnoticeable smile on his lips.

Gaara smirked a little, but gasped and grabbed his head, as if he was in pain. Ayano took a step towards the railing, but stopped herself as she remembered the plan.

"Please don't get so mad...kaa-san..." Gaara said as he looked up at Sasuke with a crazed look.

"Aniki..." Ayano murmured as she stared at him worriedly.

"Earlier...Earlier, I had you suck awful-tasting blood. I'm sorry. But this time, it'll likely...taste good." At his words, Ayano narrowed her eyes.

"His conversations has started." Ayano said, drawing the attention of the two jounins and the four genins. "This is dangerous...at least...for you guys." She looked at the two shinobi behind her.

Gaara groaned in pain as the sand floating above him fell to the ground. Then, he seemed to calm down and regain his composure. Looking at Sasuke once more, he spoke in a monotone, "Come on." Sand swirled around Gaara in a protective manner.

"Here we go!" Sasuke reached into his ninja pouch, took out a couple of shuriken, and threw them towards Gaara. A Sand clone formed from the sand surrounding Gaara and caught the shuriken. Ayano watched as the fight continued, the Sand clone eventually getting destroyed by Sasuke, who went to punch Gaara in the face.

Predictably, sand went to shield Gaara, but with a smirk, Sasuke disappeared from sight and reappeared behind him, which surprised both twins.

_'He's fast...just like him!' _ Ayano thought as she looked at Lee for a second, remembering his fight with her twin, then looked at the fight again just in time to see Gaara get punched in the face by Sasuke. The punch cracked his Sand Armor and sand cushioned him as he was about to land on the ground.

"Nii-san!" Ayano yelled, taking another step forward. Gaara showed no signs of hearing her, but she knew that he did.

"Is that the Sand Armor?" Sasuke asked as a piece of Sand Armor fell off. Sasuke made a motion with his outstretched hand. "Come on!"

**[Skipping most of the fight because I'm too lazy to write anything else]**

Ayano could hear Gaara chanting something in the dome of sand, making her eyes widen just a little bit. She disappeared in a swirl of blackish red mist and reappeared next to her two elder siblings.

"Darn! He's totally useless, no matter what we do now."

"He's not even abiding by the plan. He looks like he's just going to screw things up! That Gaara!"

_**"Damare."**_ Ayano said as she watched Sasuke. Temari and Kankuro looked at her. "It doesn't matter what he does. It'll just...speed things up a little." Her two elder siblings were quiet as they looked at the arena once more, knowing that Ayano was right. "We can deal with it."

"Right." Temari murmured.

_'Plan?' _Ayano heard someone's thoughts, making her stiffen and look to the side. She saw Shino nearby, which made her suspect that he had heard what they were talking about.

Her attention was drawn to the arena once more when she heard a sound that resembled many birds chirping and looked at the sand dome just in time to see Sasuke's left arm go through the sand and into the dome. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise and shock. However, Ayano's surprise quickly disappeared as she teleported to Kakashi. "It shouldn't be a surprise. He is an Uchiha after all." the jounin nodded.

Minutes later, Ayano smelled blood, which made her eyes widen in shock. "Is...Is this smell...Gaara's blood?" She asked, drawing the attention of both the jounins next to her and the four genin.

"Can you smell his blood?" Sakura asked.

"Yes, I can. I've never...smelled his blood before...but..." her voice trailed off when she began to feel a pain in her left shoulder, which made her grab it and heard her brother's voice.

"What...? This warm thing...? Kaa-san...? What is...?" She heard him gasp, then grabbed her shoulder tighter as the pain began to intensify . "Blood...my blood is...!" Ayano slapped her hands over her ears and an involuntary whimper escaped her as she fell to her knees.

"He made Gaara bleed." Ayano managed to say as she stood up. When she looked at the arena once more, she saw that Sasuke was having difficulty getting his arm out of the dome. Lightning then began coming out from his arm that was in the dome as he screamed. That made the phantom pain in Ayano's shoulder grow worse and she let out another whimper as she once again grabbed her shoulder.

"Are you okay, Ayano?" Kakashi asked, just now noticing how she was grabbing her shoulder. Sakura and Ino looked at Ayano.

"She isn't hurt. I heard that twins could feel each other's pain, so maybe that's what she's feeling." Ino said.

Sasuke was able to pull out his arm, but when he did, a strange arm was being pulled out as well, and that made Ayano's eyes widen.

"Is that...Shukaku's arm?" She asked herself as it let go of Sasuke and went back into the dome.

"Shukaku?" Kakashi asked, confused.

_'He didn't complete the Perfect Possession yet...d-' _She didn't get to finish the thought she had as her eyes widened and she gripped her head in pain as a loud noise came from the dome. "Ngh!" She could hear Shukaku's thoughts and they were painfully loud.

She couldn't hear what the worried jounins were saying to her as she gripped her head. It may have been on instinct that she teleported to where Temari and Kankuro were once more. Ayano vaguely felt Temari grab her and pull her into a comforting hug. She didn't resist, but that was mainly due to the fact that Ayano was recovering from the sudden onslaught of thoughts from Shukaku.

* * *

**Damare-Japanese for shut up**


	5. Attack on Konoha

**_"It's so easy for me to play the bad guy, Sasuke. All because I've spent years perfecting my act. And because I was raised around criminals." - Sabaku no Ayano_**

* * *

There was a burst of smoke at the Kage box, which drew the attention of Kankuro, Ayano, Baki and Temari. All four had one thought.

_'Commence mission!'_

Ayano stood up, shrugging off Temari's grip on her, and focused on the two kage's.

_"Kazekage, what is the meaning of this...?"_ The 'Kazekage' didn't answer, but judging from the surprised gasp from the third Hokage, something must have happened. She saw the ANBU running towards the kage box and scoffed a little. They wouldn't make it in time.

Ayano turned her attention to her twin and jumped down, landing next to him. "Nii-sama!"

"Gaara!" Kankuro yelled as he and Temari jumped down as well. Ayano grabbed him, putting one of his arms around her shoulders. The three other Sand Siblings weren't even looking at Sasuke, who looked confused like hell as he stared in the direction of the kage box. Ayano looked back there as well and her eyes widened a tad when she saw four familiar people.

_'The Sound Four, huh... then that means...' _She didn't finish her thought as she looked back at Gaara. _'Whatever. Gaara is more important.' _However, she heard Kabuto whisper something.

_"Ayano, come here. Your other two siblings can take care of Gaara for now."_

She bit her lip as she looked at her two elder siblings, then at Gaara once more. Then she sighed in defeat before giving Gaara to her other two siblings and stepping back into the ice mirror that formed behind her and stepping out of the one that appeared next to a disguised Kabuto just as he appeared in front of Kakashi and Gai.

"What are you doing? Hokage-sama is in danger!" Gai yelled.

"Ayano...?" She heard a familiar voice ask and looked up. It was Sakura who had spoken. Ignoring her, Ayano looked to Kabuto, who made a hand seal. A few ninja jumped out of the crowd.

"Ne, if those four are here, then does that mean...?" Ayano's voice trailed off and Kabuto nodded as two sound nin stood on either side of the two.

"What a bummer." Kakashi muttered, making Ayano look at him and Gai.

"I didn't expect the enemy to be disguised as an ANBU member. Was he the one that used the illusion technique?" Gai asked.

"Yeah. There's no doubt about it." Kakashi said, then he noticed Ayano and muttered, "So the Sand has allied with the Sound..."

Ayano simply smirked at him before looking at where the Third Hokage and Orochimaru was at. A distant sound of a successful summoning and the sound of a part of the wall around Konoha crumbling made Ayano tilt her head and smirk. "Summoning successful." She murmured to Kabuto. Her attention went back to her siblings though, and after glancing questioningly at Kabuto, to which he answered with a nod, let her curse mark start spreading.

The two jounin in front of them gasped and took a step back as the curse marks, which seemed to resemble crescent moons, consumed Ayano's body completely and turning her into her second state. Her now yellow eyes seemed to survey the two jounins, then went to the pinkette, Sakura.

Sakura was horrified. _'If the marks take over his body like how they did Ayano, is...is Sasuke-kun going to turn into...into that as well?' _she thought as she stared at Ayano, who was now spreading her wings out as she jumped over the railings and glided to her twin.

"Stop, Gaara!" Temari semi-yelled, drawing the attention of Sasuke. Ayano landed a little ways in front of her siblings, her wings slightly spread in a protective sort of way.

"I'll kill you...!" Gaara took a couple of steps towards Sasuke.

"Gaara, stop it. I told you already, nii-san... Sasuke-kun is _mine_." Ayano shot a glare at Gaara from the corner of her eye, not seeming to notice how Sasuke was now staring at her new appearance.

_'Why does she look so different?' _Sasuke thought, and his eyes widened when she began turning to normal. Her second state turned back into curse marks and receded back into her mark.

"Mother wants his blood!" was Gaara's reply as he clutched his head.

_'Her? Shukaku's a male.' _Ayano sweatdropped a little.

"There's no point in fighting him anymore! Do not forget our mission!" Kankuro semi-yelled at Gaara. Ayano looked at Sasuke once more and the look in her eyes surprised him. Her iridescent, sapphire blue eyes were cold and guarded as she watched his every move.

"Get out of the way!" Gaara shoved Kankuro to the side. Ayano sensed Baki coming, so she moved until she was next to her twin.

"What are you four doing?! The mission has commenced already."

Gaara grabbed at his head with both hands, groaning in pain, making Ayano do the same as she was once again bombarded by Shukaku's voice and thoughts. Baki stared at the two twins before turning his attention to Sasuke.

"What the hell is going on?!" Sasuke asked. Ayano grunted a bit as she managed to block out Shukaku's voice and thoughts.

"Baki, your orders?" Ayano asked, ignoring Sasuke's questions, knowing that the proctor would explain to him. Baki glanced at her, seemingly surprised that she was talking to him like a normal kid instead of an emotionless killing machine. Ayano looked worriedly at her twin as he groaned even more in pain and fell to his knees.

"Gaara!" Ayano and Temari exclaimed in worry.

"What's wrong?" Kankuro asked. Temari got onto one knee and looked at Gaara's wound.

"The wound is more serious than we thought. And he has used up most of his chakra." Temari told Baki. At this information, Ayano sighed slightly.

"Then he can't use 'it'...?" Kankuro asked, to which Ayano shook her head.

"He can't use it now." Temari confirmed.

Baki stared at Gaara. "Fool. That's what happens...for trying to turn into the complete possessed form without waiting for the signal."

"What are your orders?" Ayano asked Baki again as she stared at him.

"Gaara and Ayano are the Sand's trump cards. We must have them fight no matter what. You three temporarily get away from here and treat Gaara's wounds. We'll continue the mission when his chakra is restored. Ayano, go to where the Kazekage is and summon clones to help him and send one to go protect our shinobi that had participated in the summoning. Go into your second state if you need to as you go with your siblings and heal up Gaara," Ayano nodded once to show him that she was listening.

Kankuro put Gaara's good arm over his shoulder and helped him up.

"What about you, Sensei?" Temari asked.

Baki turned to look at the proctor and Sasuke. "I will stop these guys."

"You think you're going to have it your way?" The proctor asked.

"I will make it happen." Baki replied. A few, tense seconds pass, then Baki shouted, "Go!"

Kankuro jumped off with Gaara and Temari did the same. Ayano looked at Sasuke for a second before her eyes hardened slightly and she jumped up towards the area that the 'Kazekage' and Hokage were at.

She landed a few feet away from the three ANBU members and, as a precaution, encased them up to their necks in crystal, rendering them unable to move much to their surprise as she moved so that she was right in front of the barrier.

She glanced at the Sound Four and allowed herself to smirk when they glanced her way. They smirked back before refocusing on the barrier that they had put up.

"My, my... when Gaara did his thing, I was planning on stealing Sasuke-kun-"

"As if I'd let you get anywhere near Sasuke-kun without my permission." Ayano interrupted, making the 'Kazekage' chuckle and continue speaking.

"But it seems that I cannot have everything go my way."

"I see," The Hokage said. "So that's how it is. So you're after Konoha _and _Sasuke."

A small tick mark appeared on Ayano's forehead, but she stopped herself from interrupting and instead, focused on the barrier a tad curiously.

"You believe that Konoha is that important? More importantly, once our Gaara awakens completely... You could've seen something much more interesting." The 'Kazekage' said as he looked at the Hokage.

Whatever else the 'Kazekage' said, Ayano didn't hear because she had zoned out. She had laid down and was just looking up at the sky, bored out of her mind. Granted, she is immortal and she does have many abilities along with infinite chakra, but she just wasn't in the mood to reveal all of her abilities just because she was feeling bored.

She sat up and zoned back into the fight when she felt two different chakra signatures in the barrier. What she saw made her blink, look at the place where there were four different carved faces, before looking back at the shinobi in the barrier.

"I'm assuming that you two are the First and Second Hokage. Hashirama and Tobirama, right?" The two said shinobi looked at her curiously.

"Who is that, Hiruzen?" the one she assumed Tobirama asked.

"She's a Sand genin." Hiruzen answered, and Orochimaru chuckled.

"And my very own protege." Orochimaru looked at her and motioned for her walk to him. Ayano did so, ignoring the horrified look on the Third's face as she walked right up to the barrier, only to walk right into an ice mirror, melting into it. An ice mirror formed just in front of the two former Hokages, shocking them, and Ayano stepped out of it. "Ayano-chan was turned into a true immortal at the age of two, but she'll continue to grow until a certain age. She was given two kekkei genkai as well."

"Orochimaru, you flatter me." Ayano said rather stoically as she began to rapidly make the hand seals: Ram → Dog → Monkey, then she opened her hands.

_"Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Mirror."_

A large jade-green mirror in the shape of a snowflake formed in front of her. She then made more hand seals: Horse → Ram.

_"Crystal Release: Jade Crystal Clone."_

Two crystal clones began to emerge from the mirror. Once they did, the green crystal disappeared.

"One of you go protect the Sand shinobi outside the village as their chakra replenishes from summoning the snakes. You," she points to the remaining clone, "stay and help Orochimaru-sensei fight. I'm going to Gaara." The clone nodded and Ayano used her ice mirrors to appear wherever Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were, only to find that during the time she had been in the barrier with Orochimaru, someone had somehow angered Gaara enough to make him allow Shukaku to take over his body.

She appeared next to Sasuke, who flinched at her sudden arrival. "Seriously? Who was the idiot that angered Gaara enough to make him let Shukaku take over? Damned raccoon."

Sasuke watched as Ayano muttered things to herself, momentarily forgetting that Sakura was being squeezed to death right now.

Shukaku took notice of Ayano standing next to the Uchiha and watched as Ayano soon helped him up. Anger swelled up in him and sand rushed towards her.

Ayano looked up and just barely managed to dodge the sand. Putting Sasuke down next to a dog, Ayano jumped to another tree, but sand wrapped around her as Shukaku said, **"Why are you helping him?!"**

Ayano just stared at Gaara, then attempted to make an ice mirror in the sand so that she could get to Gaara and wake him up. Shukaku, realizing what she was trying to do, made the sand tighten around her, breaking her concentration as the sand tightened enough to break a few of her bones. Naruto and his summon, the Chief of Toads, could only watch. Naruto's hand turned into a fist as he stared at Shukaku, who was laughing as the sand tightened enough to make Ayano finally scream out in pain, despite her high pain tolerance.

Sasuke, who was watching, gritted his teeth. Despite her being an enemy, he didn't like how pained her scream sounded. Her pain, it just...rubbed him the wrong way for some reason. It made him want to protect her.

**"You know, if you won't answer me, I'll just have to kill you."** Shukaku said after a moment. Naruto and the Toad Chief had begun attacking Shukaku. **"But before I kill you, you should know something."**

Ayano knew that he couldn't permanently kill her, but he didn't know that. He just assumed that she was a vampire, one of those beings that could be killed with a stake to the heart. **"Gaara never truly loved you."** At this, her eyes widened. That couldn't be true. **"Why do you think that when you two first met after seven years apart, he nearly killed you? Someone like him, who started to kill at a young age, could never learn to truly love someone in such a short time."**

Naruto and the Toad Chief had stopped to listen to what Shukaku was saying, the former in shock while Kurama was growling at the raccoon's antics. He hated humans as well, but he'd never stoop as low as breaking the bond between siblings. "You're lying. You have to be lying." Ayano said, and flinched when the sand tightened. She couldn't get out of this. Not when a Tailed beast was much more powerful and much more experienced than her.

**"I'm not lying. Face it, Ayano. Gaara never loved you. He only saw you as someone who would keep him company while he killed. Someone who could replenish his chakra when he runs out."** With those words, he saw that he had hit home. Ayano seemed to be realizing the little things that she had noticed before, but had ignored.

Unshed tears began to form in her eyes as she looked at a sleeping Gaara, not knowing that in his mind, he was screaming at her, trying to tell her to not believe Shukaku. Satisfied that he had done enough mental damage, he made the sand crush Ayano's bones, stab her into a sharp branch, before breaking her neck. The last thought that she had was, _'If all that is true...then I'm such an idiot.'_

* * *

Naruto had just finished giving a speech to Gaara about having friends when he remembered Ayano, just as Sasuke landed next to Naruto with a limp Ayano in his arms. Her body was still in the process of healing itself, but they didn't seem to know that.

"Gaara, is it true that you've never loved Ayano, your own twin?" Gaara stared at him, a little confused, then also remembered what Shukaku had told her. Kankuro and Temari arrived to help Gaara up in time to hear that question.

"I do love her!" Gaara insisted. Then his gaze landed on Ayano. Her neck was snapped and all the bones in her body was completely destroyed. Kankuro and Temari gasped at the sight of their youngest sister seemingly dead.

Before Gaara could say anything else, a gasp, then coughing could be heard as Ayano suddenly came back to life. She got out of Sasuke's grip and when she looked around, her gaze stopped on her twin and her siblings.

Gaara was shocked when he saw how she looked. The best way to describe how she looked was..._broken_. He took a step towards her after Kankuro helped him up, and she took a step back. When she closed her eyes and opened them again, her eyes were dull and lifeless, almost exactly like an assassin's eyes.

"Don't come any closer, Gaara." Said shinobi could only stare at her, one thought running through his mind. _'She didn't call me 'nii-san' or 'Gaara-nii.''_

Shukaku simply cackled as he replied to his thought with, **_'I pushed her into hating you!'_**

_'She's staring at us, Gaara especially, as if we're strangers.' _was Temari's and Kankuro's thought.

"I won't be held responsible for my actions if you take even one more step in my direction." She said as she watched them. Her eyes went to Sasuke and leaned towards his ears to whisper, "Orochimaru...will be awaiting your arrival, should you ever choose to go to him. And..." She made the unfamiliar hand seal and muttered something, which unlocked the memory that she had passed him during the forest of death.

Sasuke gasped softly when the memory flashed before his eyes, revealing that it was about a file on the Uchiha Massacre. It showed her, or rather, a clone, going through the file and seeing the reason for the massacre and who ordered it.

Seeing that her work was done, Ayano patted his shoulder gently before she went into her second state form, stepped back into an ice mirror, and disappeared as the ice mirror shattered.

And so did Gaara's heart when he noticed her Suna forehead protector lying in front of him with a slash through it.

* * *

_' ' = Kimimaro_  
**_' ' = Ayano_**

Ayano and the Sound Four had arrived at Orochimaru's current hideout not too long ago. Kabuto had taken Orochimaru to go find Tsunade, so that she could heal his arms. Ayano went into a random room that held all the failed experiments and all of Shukaku's words flashed through her mind. Growling, she launched herself into the crowd of failed experiments and began to slaughter them as they attacked her. When she was done killing them, she was breathing heavily as unbidden tears fell from her eyes. She rubbed at them furiously as she entered a different room.

_'So, that's what happened?' _A familiar, gentle-sounding voice asked. Ayano's teary eyes looked towards the source of the voice. _'You were projecting your thoughts and memories again.'_

**_'Was I?'_ **Ayano walked towards the bed that had Kimimaro in it. **_'I'm sorry, Kimimaro.'_**

_'Don't be sorry. You had a good reason to do what you did. Loving your twin and protecting him was what you lived for, right?' _He asked her mentally, since he couldn't exactly speak.

**_'It used to be what I lived for. Before that, I lived for Orochimaru. It isn't hard to going back to live for him.'_ **Ayano replied to him as she entered his mind. In his mindscape, the two of them were sitting down, cross-legged, as they 'talked' to one another about random stuff. Kimimaro saw that even though she would smile at him, it never reached her eyes.

Finally, he asked, or, more like stated,_'What the tailed beast said, about Gaara never loving you...it hurt you, didn't it.' _Ayano stared at him before looking at the ground.

**_'You can't be hurt by something you never had. Even though you thought you had it.'_** Similar to what she had said during the preliminaries, but not. Then she changed the subject. **_'I can try to heal you. Do you want me to try?' _**Kimimaro stared at her before he smiled gently and nodded.

Ayano exited his mindscape and put her hands over his unmoving body, trying her best to heal him. She didn't notice a familiar black and white male watching her. Even if she did, she wouldn't have done anything. Slowly, a smirk formed on her lips. **_'The seed of hate for his village has been planted. It's only a matter of time before the roots of hatred takes ahold of his mind and Sasuke-kun chooses to come to Orochimaru.'_**

* * *

**Akatsuki POV**

Zetsu reappeared in front of Pein. "Leader**-sama. We have news about** Ayano. We think that **everyone in the organization** should hear this."

Pein nodded. "Very well." Walking to the living rooom of the base, he saw that all the members were in the room, including Konan. "Tell us, Zetsu. What news do you have about Ayano?"

At her name, all the members stopped what they were doing and looked at Zetsu.

"She defected from her village." White Zetsu said, shocking the other members. **"It seems like she had a falling out** with her twin brother. She no longer **seems to care for him."**

"Do you know what caused their falling out?" Sasori asked.

"The One Tails** broke her trust in her** brother. He said that **his jinchuriki never loved her and was ju**st using her, then...he killed her. She's w**ith Orochimaru now**. The look in her eyes**...she looked broken but is hiding that behind a blank** expression."

The members were silent, thinking about Ayano.

"That bastard...jinchuriki or not...hurting your own twin like that..." Deidara muttered, obviously angry, but restraining himself from blowing up the base.

"Even I wouldn't do that, and I'm a puppet." Sasori said, making the others agree.

"Keep an eye on her, Zetsu. And keep us updated on her." Pein instructed before going back to his office, Konan following him.


	6. Sasuke's Second State's Awakening

_**"Now, don't you dare mistake us for another fool. We're the ones who pulls the strings now you're our toy." -Sabaku no Ayano and Uchiha, Sasuke**_

* * *

A month or two later, the Sound Four had went to bring Sasuke to Orochimaru, but when it took too long, Ayano decided to go and get him herself. Kimimaro caught up to her just as she arrived. He landed gracefully behind Naruto and Shikamaru on the round casket holding Sasuke while Ayano landed down just as gracefully as him on a different branch.

Kimimaro flipped over and kicked the casket off the branch before grabbing it and jumping to the branch that Ayano was standing on. She felt Naruto's and Shikamaru's attention on both her and Kimimaro. Standing up from the crouch that she had been in, she sat down on the top of the casket and tilted her head slightly as she looked at Naruto and Shikamaru.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. It's my miscalculation." Shikamaru told him. Naruto stared at Ayano. She had changed. Her long, red-tinged black hair was no longer in a hime cut. Instead, two locks of her hair was braided half-way down, the top half, unbraided while the rest of her hair was loose, with the exception of a small braided bun on the left side of her head. Her bangs were evenly split down the middle and formed an upside-down, slightly curved V. Her clothes now consisted of a black sports bra under a black mesh shirt and over that, a rather revealing black and dark purple kimono dress that had a dark blue obi that had a light purple string tied around it. Under the kimono dress was black ninja shorts and black fishnet leggings. She also wore black high heeled sandals now.

Tayuya stared at them. "Kimimaro. Ayano."

"You were taking too long, Tayuya." Kimimaro said as he looked back at her. "And what happened to the other three? Being none other than those of the former Sound Five?"

"I'll send out clones to check. If these two Leaf shinobi are here, chances are that there are more that stayed back to fight the other three." Ayano said, making Kimimaro nod. Ayano then made crystal clones and sent them in the direction where she sensed their chakra.

"Why are you...? Your body...Your body's no longer..." Ayano rolled her eyes slightly.

"He's no longer moving with the flesh anymore. It's all me. I'm the one holding back his pain so that he can move around with his own free will/" Ayano said. Kimimaro nodded, confirming what she said.

Tayuya scoffed a little. "Man, you two cheaters of death..."

"Technically, I _am_ a cheater of Death. I should've been dead a _long_ time ago." Ayano said nonchalantly.

"I understand a little now, that feeling...of being information that has escaped the prison of the flesh." Kimimaro put a hand on the lid of the casket and rubbed it gently. Ayano had used chakra to stay on the top of the casket and had zoned out, as she was looking through the eyes of her clones. She then spoke, drawing the other four's attention.

"Ukon and Zakon are both fighting the Inuzuka. Jirobo is dead. That Choji guy beat him. Kidomaru is dead. That Hyuuga boy from the branch family, Neji, beat him, but as a result, he is nearly dead." Kimimaro hummed a little as two of Ayano's clones disappeared while one remained to watch the fight between Ukon, Zakon and the Inuzuka. Another clone was hidden around the area the five are currently in to watch the fight.

The next thing Ayano knew, Kimimaro had picked up the casket and darted off, with Ayano still sitting on it. A few minutes later, Ayano heard Kimimaro's thoughts. _'It's only a matter of time, Lord Orochimaru.'_

Ayano stared at Kimimaro with what looked like pity as he leapt out of the trees and into the plains, setting the casket down. Ayano got off and looked up at him.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't fully heal you, Kimimaro. If Tayuya comes back, I'll kill her for you." Ayano promised him, resulting in him smiling slightly at her. Her iridescent, sapphire blue eyes went to the forest, where she heard someone coming closer.

"Hold it," That someone turned out to be Naruto as he landed a few feet away from Kimimaro and Ayano, making them look at him. "Hey!" Naruto's eyes were those of the Kyuubi's. Ayano looked at the casket and grabbed it, moving it a few feet away before going to stand next to Kimimaro.

"Now then, how shall I defeat you?" Kimimaro asked as he turned to face Naruto fully, a long and sharp piece of bone coming out of his hand as he did so. It was concealed by the long sleeves of his loose fitting zip-up kimono shirt though.

"Should I...?" Ayano made to walk to Naruto, and Kimimaro looked at her.

"No. Just stay back and make sure that he doesn't get to him." Kimimaro said, to which Ayano nodded. Ayano moved and once again sat on the lid of the casket, choosing to zone out and look through her clones' eyes.

However, she snapped to attention when she felt the dark chakra starting to come out of the casket. Knowing that Sasuke was coming out any second made her get off of it and watch the casket.

It was kind of safe to say that she wasn't paying attention to the fight between Naruto and Kimimaro, but despite that fact, she was able to successfully dodge and deflect any of the attacks that Naruto's Shadow Clones made towards her. She turned her attention to Naruto's clones when they surrounded her and simply smirked, angering the clones. Although there were many of the clones, Ayano beat them with just a little Taijutsu, with a bit of acrobatic and extremely flexible moves added to it.

* * *

She didn't know how much time passed, but she felt herself grin widely as the casket exploded in a burst of purple smoke. As the smoke cleared out, Ayano was able to see Sasuke's new form temporarily before it receded, turning back into markings and went back into the curse mark.

"Sasuke-kun." Said male glanced at her when he heard her voice and stared at her. Ayano smirked as she looked at him, then she looked away when Naruto called out to Sasuke, who looked at his hands, his back still facing Naruto.

Naruto laughed nervously as he saw Ayano and Kimimaro share a smirk. "Sasuke! What're you doing with these guys?!" He began waving his hand as he continued saying, "Come on! We're going home now!"

Sasuke began to chuckle darkly, drawing Ayano's attention back to him. She smiled slightly.

"Sasuke...Hey..." Naruto sounded a bit nervous as he had a couple of flashbacks, which Ayano saw mentally. "Hey...We're going home." He has a flashback of Sakura looking sad, which made Ayano snort a little and project the memory to Kimimaro, who scoffed slightly at the memory. "Everyone's worried about you."

**_**'By everyone, he means Sakura, that pink haired girl.' **_**Ayano thought to Kimimaro, who glanced at her.

_'You met her before, what do you think about her?' _Kimimaro mentally asked Ayano, who instantly replied with.

**_**'I think she's weak. You should've heard her thoughts, Kimimaro. It was Sasuke-kun this, Sasuke-kun that. She doesn't even try to help her team out.'**_** Ayano stopped talking and focused on Naruto as he continued talking. _**'I'm honestly surprised that she lasted this long.'**_

"So..."

Ayano saw Sasuke start to smile. Then he started laughing darkly. "Sasuke!" Naruto sounded a little angry now as a flashback of Sakura went through his mind.

_****Naruto's Flashback****_

**_**"Please. Bring back Sasuke...!" Sakura said as she sobbed.**_**

**_**Flashback End **_**

Ayano stared at Naruto after seeing that particular flashback and projected it to Kimimaro, who deadpanned slightly at it. Naruto began yelling at Sasuke, "You can hear my voice, can't you?!" Wind blew a few leaves towards Sasuke and one of the leaves landed by Sasuke's foot. Ayano intervened then, making Sasuke glance at her.

"I'll take you to Orochimaru. Just follow me."

Sasuke nodded slightly and stepped on the leaf as he followed Ayano as she left a crystal clone behind and made her way to where she knew Kabuto would be waiting for them.

"Wait, Sasuke! Ayano!" Ayano's clone hid itself.

As Ayano led Sasuke to where Kabuto would be waiting, she looked back at him. "So, did you like the little truth I showed you a month or two ago?"

Sasuke was silent, then he said, "Hn. Everything makes sense now. I thought I had seen Itachi cry that night, but just dismissed it as a trick of the moonlight."

"What are your plans now?"

"Get stronger, then find my aniki. I want to know why he wanted me to get stronger to kill him." Sasuke replied, having moved so that he was by her side.

"Hm..." she wanted to tell him something, but decided that it was best if she waited until they were safely back at the hideout first.

When she sensed Naruto following them, she looked at Sasuke. "Seems that a knucklehead is following us."

Sasuke seemed to think about something, then motioned for her to follow him after taking notice of where they were. Ayano followed him, no questions asked since only he seemed to know where to go.

* * *

A few minutes or so later, Ayano felt a couple of her clones disappear and the memories of the clones hit her hard, making her stumble and Sasuke look back at her. She was holding her head as she received the memories. Then her eyes snapped open and she growled to herself. She thought about something, then said, "When I gave you that memory...it was because I owed Itachi-san a debt. He is slowly dying of an illness, so I took matters into my own hands and since I hate being indebted to others, I decided to repay my debt to him by telling you the truth. There is a way to save him, but it requires me to be at a certain age before I can try anything."

Sasuke seemed shocked at the news that his brother is slowly dying, and became even more determined to get strong enough to be able to find his brother. He was surprised by what Ayano claimed that she could do, and only hoped that she can back up her claim.

Eventually, they reached the Valley of the End and there, Ayano and Sasuke both waited for Naruto to arrive. Ayano was standing on Madara's head next to Sasuke.

While they were waiting, Ayano looked through her clone's eyes and saw Gaara just as he noticed her. Both of the two siblings stared at each other. Gaara was wide eyed while Ayano glared at him.


	7. Broken Bonds

**_"You see, I am simply one hell of a deer." -Sebastian Michaelis [Kuroshitsuji]_**

* * *

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled from Hashirama's head, Sasuke's name echoing through the valley. Sasuke took a step forward, only for Naruto to yell, "Are you going to run away from me?!" which made Sasuke slowly turn around to him. Naruto was visibly shocked to see that the curse mark had taken over half of Sasuke's body. Naruto looked at Ayano, who had yet to turn to look at him.

Then, Ayano turned to look at Sasuke. "My siblings came to help...retrieve you, like you were some dog." She told him quietly. Sasuke grit his teeth for a second before he said, "Yo...usuratonkachi."

Then, Sasuke and Naruto have a staring contest. Ayano looked in between them before deciding to back up a bit, not wanting to be caught in their fight if they were going to fight. Then, Sasuke muttered, "It's you this time, huh?"

Naruto gritted his teeth as he remembered what Sakura said to him, crying as she did so.

**_'I couldn't do it. I was not able to stop Sasuke-kun...He told me that Ayano was the one who opened his eyes to the truth...but she has to be manipulating him...I think...the one who can stop Sasuke-kun...the one who can save Sasuke-kun from her manipulation is...Naruto...you are the only one. Naruto...this is my...once in a lifetime...favor to ask... Please...Please bring Sasuke-kun back!'_**

Ayano, who had been reading Naruto's mind, projected Sakura's words to Sasuke, who then said, "I also told this to Sakura, but...stop concerning yourself with me. Ayano is not manipulating me. No, she just showed me the truth about _Konoha_." Naruto looked taken aback. Sasuke and Ayano chuckled darkly when they noticed the look on Naruto's face.

"What's with that look on your face, Na-ru-to-kun~?" Ayano asked as she stared at him, tilting her head slightly to the side. "Shocked that your precious 'Sakura-chan' was trying to manipulate you into bringing Sasuke-kun back?"

Then, Sasuke began chuckling darkly again while Ayano had a zoned out sort of look in her eyes. She smirked as her clone told Gaara that she was just a clone and that he had nine more chances to find her, and one hour and a half to find the real her. If he found her, she'll go back to Suna with him willingly and forget what he had said. Then, her clone shattered.

When she zoned back in, Naruto was asking Sasuke why he had become like this. Once again, his loud voice echoed throughout the valley.

"Whatever becomes of me, how does it have anything to do with you?" Naruto looked a bit shocked as Sasuke continued talking. "I have my own path, with Ayano here to guide me through it. No matter who it is, I'm not obligated to take orders from anyone." Naruto gritted his teeth. "Let me make it clear to you. My childish games with you and Konoha are over. Go home." Naruto's eyes widened as he gasped softly.

Ayano raised an eyebrow as she looked at the two, then she jumped up to one of the statue Madara's spikes of hair amd she stood on it, balancing herself on it as she sighed and muttered to herself, "Too much talking, not enough action." She closed her eyes and chose not to read Naruto's mind. However, one particular flashback caught her attention and made her eyes open. She jumped down so that she was next to Sasuke as she focused intently on Naruto's flashback.

**_Naruto's Flashback_**

_"Wh-What's with that face...?" Sasuke asked as he looked over his shoulder at Naruto. Multiple senbon was stuck in his body. "You idiot..."_

_Naruto sat up, multiple senbon also stuck in his body, but not as many as the ones stuck in Sasuke's body. "Why...?"_

_"You...I hated you, you know." _

_Taken aback, Naruto leaned his head back slightly, then shut his eyes as he yelled, "It's none of your business!"_

_One of Sasuke's eyes began to water. "Who knows, my body moved on it's own."_

**_Naruto's Flashback End_**

Ayano saw Naruto's fist clench a little harder. She tilted her head slightly as another one of his flashback's entered her mind.

**_Naruto's Flashback_**

_Sasuke, most of his face covered in curse markings, was looking at Gaara with a protective glint in his eyes. "You rescue Sakura, no matter what!"_

_Naruto stared at him in shock. "Sasuke...you..."_

_"I could still distract him for a little while..." He moved into a crouch as he continued talking. "I lost everything once." He stood up. "I don't want to see my precious comrades die in front of me anymore."_

**_Naruto's Flashback End_**

She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering that this was before he knew what his brother had gone through, just to save him. Then she opened her eyes and sighed to herself once more as she walked towards her previous spot on one of the tips of statue Madara's hair.

"Why...?" Naruto unclenched, then clenched his fist. "Why is it...Sasuke?"

Sasuke seemed confused at his words, not understanding his question. Naruto then yelled, "Why did you become like this?! You!" That last word echoed throughout the valley.

Sasuke replied with, "Whatever happens to me, what does that have to do with you?" Naruto looked shocked. "I have my own way. No matter who it is, nobody has the right to tell me what to do." Naruto seemed to become even more shocked, if possible.

"I will tell you the truth," Sasuke began. "I'm done fooling around with you guys of the Leaf. The very village that is the source of my aniki's pain. Go home."

Naruto's eyes widened while Ayano was in her own little world.

Hearing footsteps, she saw Sasuke starting to walk towards her. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped and snapped her head up to the sky. Sasuke did the same when he saw her look up.

"What do you think your comrades in Konoha are?!" Naruto yelled as he fell towards Sasuke. Ayano prepared to intercept him in midair and very possibly kill him, when Sasuke murmured, "Let me handle him." Ayano observed him for a second before reluctantly nodding and choosing not to interfere.

Ayano searched with her mind for Kabuto's mind and once she found him, she sent him a mental message that Sasuke is currently fighting Naruto, so they'll be rather late. Kabuto sent back a mental message for her to just make sure that Sasuke doesn't die and to interfere if she has to.

When she refocused on the two, Naruto was on top of Sasuke and had already punched him. Smelling blood, Ayano's sapphire blue eyes seemed to glow red for a split second in anger before she shook it off. Sasuke spat out some blood and a drop landed on Naruto's face. Angered, Naruto grabbed Sasuke by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up slightly.

"Comrades?" Sasuke questioned him. "Have I become stronger while staying with those so called comrades? Ayano helped me see that all you Leaf ninja did was hold me back from becoming stronger. Take a look at her, Naruto." Naruto looked at Ayano, who was currently examining her nails with a bored look on her face, but he could easily tell that she's strong. Nearly ten times stronger than she had been a couple of months ago. Naruto's eyes widened in shock. "She went to Orochimaru and became stronger than she already was in just two months. So, I'm going to where Orochimaru is with her." Naruto's eyes widened even more and he shot a glare at Ayano before looking at Sasuke once more.

"Orochimaru is the one who killed the Third and tried to destroy Konoha! You really think he's going to give you power for free?!" Sasuke stared blankly at him. "He just wants your body as a vessel! You might never come back! You might die! There's no way I can just let you go to a place like that! Especially not with _her_!"

"Naruto." Ayano said, making him look at her. She had a stoic expression on her face. "Stop trying. You're never going to convince him to return to that...weak and corrupt village."

Sasuke 'hned' in agreement before he said, "I don't care about that." making Naruto gasp and look back at him. "If I can achieve my objective, then it's all fine. If you're going to get in my way, then I have no choice." Sasuke grabbed Naruto's jacket and pulled him a little closer. Ayano stared at the two and turned away, sighing.

"You won't be able to! I'm going to take you back, by force if I have to!" Naruto exclaimed. At this, Ayano and Sasuke both smirked and chuckled darkly. Naruto looked at Ayano and Sasuke warily. "What are you two laughing at?"

"You laughed too, that time." Naruto looked confused before he remembered. Ayano just said, "You won't be able to beat Sasuke. Not with the upgrade he got."

"Back then, you wanted to fight me, right? You were excited, weren't you?" Sasuke questioned him.

"At first, yeah! But, you weren't the same! That..." Naruto has a flashback that Ayano sees, but decides to ignore. "That...wasn't the kind of fight I wanted to fight. Even now, I..."

"I don't care about your reasons." Sasuke said as he began to lift Naruto up into the air with the hold he had on his jacket. He smirked, then let Naruto go and as he fell, punched him in the stomach, hard enough to make blood come out of Naruto's mouth. Naruto flew into the river off to the left of them.

Sasuke looked at the hand that had punched Naruto, wondering what that power was. Ayano put a hand on his shoulder and said, "This power...is just a taste of how stronger you can become." He looked at her.

"Really?"

"Yes. I would know, because I went through the same thing three years ago. Look at me now," Ayano said as she took a step back and spun around, laughing almost insanely. "Stronger than even Senju, Tsunade. And I'll continue growing stronger." Sasuke stared at her before he smirked darkly. Then he winced in pain as his curse mark receded. Soon, he chuckled darkly as Ayano looked over at him. She watched as he looked at the sealed curse mark with a dark smirk and knew that he was thinking about the power.

Ayano sighed as she noticed Sasuke and Naruto have another stare down. Deciding to stay out of the fight, she just sat down and closed her eyes as she began to meditate. She must've meditated for a long time, because when she opened her eyes, she saw red chakra starting to bubble out of Naruto. Her eyes widened slightly as she shouted at him, pure worry filling her voice.

"Sasuke-kun! Get back!" That was all she managed to yell, before a red chakra hand appeared out of nowhere and killed her before she could react.

When she came to, it was just starting to rain. Ayano groaned and stood up, looking down at herself and watching as her injuries finished healing. It seemed that the Kyuubi's chakra caused more damage to her than Shukaku did. After healing, she looked down at where Sasuke was and jumped off the head of the statue, landing gently behind Sasuke just as he grabbed his shoulder and let out a choked gasp of pain. He fell to his knees and coughed out some blood, which made Ayano panic slightly, though it doesn't show in her expression, and crouch down next to him.

Her hands hovered over his shoulders and began to glow a mint green, healing him of his injuries and restoring his chakra. "Sasuke-kun, are you ready to go?" She asked him. When he no longer felt pain in his shoulder and stopped staring down at Naruto, he looked over to her and nodded.

Ayano stopped healing him and stood up, holding her hand out to him do that he can take it. He stared at her hand for a moment, then grabbed it and allowed her to pull him up. He didn't let go of her hand, but she didn't mind. Only smiled gently at him before leading him to Orochimaru's latest hideout.

She did, however, glance back at the unconscious Naruto with a rather self-satisfied smirk, before both her and Sasuke disappeared.

* * *

A green plant-like thing came out from under the ground and opened to reveal a half black, half white person watching the two leave. He smirked to himself.

**"Things are getting interesting...especially since she has the little Uchiha wrapped around her finger.** She couldn't manipulate him the way she always did, so she resorted to that tactic, huh. **Yes she did, but who knew that she fell in love with him along the way."**


End file.
